– 10 min read
Introduction
Lately, I have been thinking more about death. For many, this may be an uncomfortable thing to do. However, as Christians, we should be focused on the eternal and always looking heavenward. Many sayings in Scripture may come to our minds, but some of us wonder what they really mean. In the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man, did Jesus really mean that angels will usher us into God’s presence once we die (Luke 16:22)? What does it mean when Scripture says that “Precious in the sight of Yahweh is the death of His holy ones” (Psalm 116:15); does God really think that our death is “precious”? When Solomon says, “And better is the day of one’s death than the day of one’s birth” (Ecclesiastes 7:1), how does he mean it’s “better”? These are questions that I believe are not uncommon to the believer. We can at least conclude that having a robust biblical, theological understanding of death will not only provide answers to these questions but also provide comfort for the soul. In this short series, I wish to explore several topics and categories related to death and give some application.
Death Is First, The Resurrection Is Second
A grave with Christ is a comfortable place.
– John Flavel, Fountain of Life, 378
Death Anticipated
According to the Christian worldview, death is not a constant thing. Some believe that there is a fixed duality in the universe: life and death. But according to God’s Word, death had a beginning and has an end. Death came into the world because of Mankind’s sin. We read of the origins of death in the opening pages of our Bibles. Though death was not present in the beginning, it does not mean that God made Adam immortal; God alone is immortal (1 Tim. 6:16). As Millard Erickson argues from the Reformed tradition, Adam possessed a conditional immortality under his probationary period: “He was not inherently able to live forever, but he need not have died.“[1] Adam was to live in obedience to God under the Covenant of Works and so live forever. This, however, was not the case. By Adam sinning (Gen. 3:6), Adam and all in him died (Rom. 5:12,18-19).
Then Yahweh God took the man and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16 And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may surely eat; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
– Genesis 2:15-17 (LSB)
Interestingly, God speaks of death to Adam as if he would know what it means. Though Adam, made in holiness, would at least understand the concept of no longer living, since he himself did not possess immortality, he would have no comprehension of what that experience would be like, as he had never gone through it. Here we can see the similarities between the first Adam and the second Adam. Jesus Christ, who is immortal, though never having experienced death, experienced it for us. God spoke of death to Adam, though it had never happened before. Adam would be the first to experience a spiritual death, but not the first to experience a physical death; that was reserved for his son Abel (Gen. 4:8).
Resurrection Anticipated
Then Adam knew his wife again; and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, for she said, “God has set for me another seed in place of Abel, for Cain killed him.” 26 And to Seth, to him also, a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of Yahweh.
– Genesis 4:25-26 (LSB)
It is not by accident that Moses uses this language of “seed” in association with offspring while quoting Eve. Christ Jesus is the firstfruits of the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20-21), and we see here that, like Abel, Christ goes before us in death, but unlike Abel, Christ is the first to rise from the dead. Jesus said, “‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:23-24). Abel was the first fallen seed into the earth. After Abel’s death came Seth’s birth and men after him who “began to call upon the name of Yahweh.” Abel, being a type of Christ, shows us how Christ, too, would be the first of many brothers to die and how many would come after Him and call upon the name of the Lord (Rom. 10:13).
The careful reader would notice that there is a death-and-resurrection motif embedded in the very fabric of God’s creation. On the third day God creates “plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind” (Gen. 1:12). The seed falls, it “dies”, germinates, and gives new life after its kind that rises from the ground. So it is with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. This author-intended typology from Moses becomes clearer when there is silence on day two (no mention of it being “good” – Gen. 1:6-8), and a doubly “good” is mentioned on day three (Gen. 1:10,12). From the beginning, we have been trained to long for the goodness of the third day. Death comes first, resurrection comes second. Resurrection was always anticipated after death. So, just as sin is eradicated after our death, so death will be eradicated after our resurrection. We read in Revelation how death will be thrown into the lake of fire after the judgment (Rev. 21:14). We, therefore, can have great comfort in our death knowing that we are in union with Christ and He is ever present with us; He will never leave us nor forsake us (Deut. 31:6, 31:8; Josh. 1:5), even in death.
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming. 24 Then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.
– 1 Corinthians 15:20-24 (LSB)
CONCLUSION: We can rest in our death knowing that soon we will rise. Christ, who went before us, secures for us a precious death and a glorious resurrection. Death of the Saints: “the separation of the cleansed soul from the fallen body,” stands across Resurrection of the Saints: “the unification of the cleansed soul with a glorified body.” So, the Christian does not look to death, but looks over and beyond it to the resurrection.
Question 1: “Is your view of death overshadowing your view of resurrection?”
Question 2: “How would you say your current view of death is; is it characterized by hope or fear?”
Question 3: “Do you know that Jesus will be with you in your death as He is with you now in your life?”
Teaching Our Children About Death
Death seizes on old men and lays wait for the youngest. Death is oftentimes as near to the young man’s back as it is to the old man’s face.
– Thomas Brooks, Apples of Gold, 147.
Becoming Aware of Death
My oldest daughter and I have been reading through the Harry Potter books together. For her tenth birthday this past year, my wife and I gifted her a complete set of the seven books. Coming of age is an intimidating thing. Growing up to be an adult means facing the unfiltered, heavy reality of life and death. The reason why J. K. Rowling is the most successful writer in history, the first author to make over a billion dollars from her published works, and has sold over 500 million copies of Harry Potter books, is because she brilliantly communicated powerful truths to children in their critical years. She was certainly following in the footsteps of Tolkien and Lewis by using a magical world as a vehicle to capture the attention of her audience while introducing them to immutable truths and realities, like how true love is sacrificial, the importance of friendship, the certainty of death, and the concept of resurrection to new life. Rowling borrowed symbolism and the corresponding meaning of that symbolism from the greatest story ever written: the Bible. And so, these books not only created an opportunity for my daughter and me to bond, but also an opportunity for us to discuss hard, deep things. The books could be summarized and organized as dozens of cycles of death and resurrection.
“The headstone was only two rows behind Kendra and Ariana’s. It was made of white marble, just like Dumbledore’s tomb, and this made it easy to read, as it seemed to shine in the dark. Harry did not need to kneel or even approach very close to it to make out the words engraved upon it.
– J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Chapter 16: Godric’s Hallow, 328.
JAMES POTTER (Born: 27 March 1960 – Died: 31 October 1981)
LILY POTTER (Born: 30 January 1960 – Died: 31 October 1981)
“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”
Harry read the words slowly, as though he would have only one chance to take in their meaning, and he read the last of them aloud. “‘The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death’…”
The statement engraved on Lily and James Potter’s gravestone is not from Rowling, but from the apostle Paul: “The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26). By the time my daughter and I reach the seventh book (the one in which Harry dies and is resurrected), there will be many, many deaths. How can the most popular book series in the world for children be filled with so much death? As Thomas Brooks said, the young are not immune to death. Death does not show partiality, but is liberal in who it seeks out.
Becoming Acquainted with Death
If we shelter our children from death, we are not only doing them a disservice, but we are running an impossible race. Death is inevitable. Our children, therefore, need to have a biblical understanding of death and of the life to come. Also, death is important for our children to understand because death is a part of the gospel. For our children to rightly understand and appreciate the beauty of the gospel, they need to know what death is. In the Apostles’ Creed, which our church recites every Sunday with children present, death is mentioned.
…I believe in Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son, our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary;
suffered under Pontius Pilate;
was crucified, dead, and buried;
he descended into Hades;
the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from there he shall come to judge the living and the dead…
In 1595, the Father of Puritanism, William Perkins, wrote a Treatise on Dying Well. Seven years later, Perkins would depart to be with the Lord. In this work, Perkins lays out a biblical perspective on dying and offers great encouragement to the Christian reader. He begins with an outline of understanding one is to have about death. He gives three items that are helpful for even children to understand: 1) The Ordainer, 2) The Executioner, and 3) The Procurer.[2] God is the ordainer of death and the executioner of death. Death entering the world was not only unsurprising to God but was ordained by Him. In God’s eternal decree, He has ordained whatsoever comes to pass (Isa. 46:10-11). God is also the executioner of death in that He told Adam that when he ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he would die (Gen. 2:17). This was indeed a warning of God’s punishment for sin, for the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). But God is not the procurer of death: we are. In Adam, we all sinned, and so all brought death upon ourselves. Paul says, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12). We are the ones who procured our own death. God is not to be blamed for our death, though He has ordained it and though He is the one who executes it. These are helpful categories for Christians of all ages to have.
Becoming Prepared for Death
In Ada R. Habershon’s popular hymn, Will the Circle Be Unbroken, we sing the refrain,
“Will the circle be unbroken
by and by, yes, by and by?
In a better home awaiting
in the sky, in the sky?”
The song is about the death of ones we love in this life and the eternal bliss of heaven. It speaks of “loved ones in the glory, whose dear forms you often miss,” and how since childhood these mentors of the faith “told of wondrous love, pointed to the dying Savior, now they dwell with Him above.” In the final verse, we see how the song is not only about losing family members to death and how we, with them, gain heaven after we die, but also about a heavenly reunion that those in faith will enjoy.
“One by one their seats were empty,
One by one they went away,
Now the fam’ly is parted,
Will it be complete one day?”
The answer to the question, of course, depends on one’s faith. The faith of parents cannot save their children. To prepare our children for death is not a gloomy task, but it is a glorious duty! We long to one day be with our children in glory, seeing how just as Christ paved our way upward, we too assisted in instructing our children up that path and taught them not to stray. To prepare our children for death is to prepare them for life after death. The hope being that on that resurrection day, we can see the circle unbroken. This hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ, who is the resurrection.
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die—ever. Do you believe this?”
– John 11:23-26 (LSB)
CONCLUSION: To train up our children in the gospel is to proclaim the death of Christ to them and to prepare them for the eternal life that is to come after death. If our children do not rightly understand death, they will indeed be set up for stumbling. Death should be regularly coming up in conversations because the Bible is filled with death. If parents are faithfully reading the Bible to their children, they will have to explain the theology of death to them. Parents can also provide helpful categories to help their children better understand death, as found in Perkins. Finally, parents can say with confidence where they are going and how they pray and long for their children to be there with them.
Question 1: “What are some practical ways you are helping your children understand death?”
Question 2: “What tools are you providing to your children to cope with the loss of loved ones?”
Question 3: “Do your children see you longing for glory, or in fear of dying?”
Continue reading this series by clicking here for Part 2
Works Cited
[1] Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, (Baker Academic), 559.
[2] William Perkins, A Treatise on Dying Well: A Salve for the Sick Man, The Works of William Perkins, Vol. 10, (Reformation Heritage Books, Grand Rapids, MI, 2020), 404-405.